Tap-sole for rubber boots and shoes



(NO Model.) A

G. WATKINSON. x

TAB SOLE BOB BOBBEE BOOTS AND SHOES. No. 282,423. Y Patented July 81,1883.

xx xxx x fixent f Y" i 4 l l a/ a/` d m UNITED STATES.' PATENT OFFICE.

GEOEGE wAfrKINsON, OE NEw HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

lTAP- SOLE lFOR RUBBER BOOTS AND SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 282,423, dated July 81, 1883.

To @ZZ w/Lom, t may concern.-

Beit known that I, GEORGE WATKINsoN,

of N ew Haven, in the county of N ew Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented'a new Improvement in Tap-Soles for India-Rubber.

Boots and Shoes; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and

f an under sideview of the sole.

4o `sole A. This tap-sole is tap-sole thicker across the ball and This invention relates to an improvement in tap-soles for india-rubber boots and shoes. In the usual construction of such tap-soles, they are rolled in even thickness throughout, and sufficiently thick to give the usual or ordinary wear to the boot or shoe. In nearly every case the principal wear comes across the ball of the foot, gradually diminishing in both directions from that point, so that there is, in fact, a surplus of material in the tap-sole toward the toe and shank; or, if nota surplus, then the sole across the ball of the foot is not of a thickness to afford the proper amount of wear for the `boot or shoe.

The object of Vmy invention is to construct the tap-sole so that it may be of a thickness at the ball of the foot to stand the usual wear to which such boots and shoes are adapted, and without the surplus material at other points 5 and the invention consists in constructing the reducing it toward the toe and shank, as more fully hereinafter described.

Inthe manufacture of the boot or shoe the' usual process is followed, `except as to the tapof the usual outline,

preferably extending from the ball rearward,

gradually Application filed May 31, 1883. (N o model.)

and terminating in a point on the shank, as

shown; but instead of making the sole of an equal thickness throughout, as in the usual construction, I make it the extreme practical `thickness at the ball a and gradually reduce it in thickness toward the toe and shown. By thus reducing the thickness toshank, as

ward the toe and shank I am enabled to increase the thickness at the ball without adding to the weight ofthe boot or shoe or to the cost of manufacture, and because of this increased thickness of sole at the ball the sole will wear proportionately longer, because the wear of the boot necessarily comes on this thickened portion.

By the term tap-sole7 is understood that part of the sole which gives the appearance to the boot or shoe of anr overlying thickness uponthebottom.V In some cases, however, the tap-sole is molded with the bottom,- and is therefore not an independent thickness. In

such case the mold is made to give to the sole the increased thickness at the ball and gradually reducing toward the toe and shank. By the term ta-.psole, therefore, I wish to be understood as what is commonly known in the trade as tapsole boots and shoesV-that is to say, boots or shoes in which the bottom shows an apparently overlying thickness eX,- tending from the shank forward to the toe.

I clai1n `The herein-described improvement in tapsoles for indiarubber boots and shoes, consist ing in the tap-sole diminishing in thickness from the ball of the foot towardthe toe and shank, substantially as described.

GEORGE W'ATKIN SON. 

